A Ba-Rock Explosion with Daniel Hope & Friends

by Levina Duivesteijn

There hasn’t been written a lot yet about classical music on this blog, but that of course doesn’t mean we don’t love it too. This week from London: ‘A Ba-Rock Explosion’!

Last Monday, the award-winning British violinist Daniel Hope played the very first classical concert in the Elgar Room, a brand new performance space at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Unlike you might expect from classical music events, it was an all-standing concert where people were free to move around to get a drink or snack. “It takes a while to get used to, but it’s an amazing atmosphere,” says Hope about it in an interview with BBC Music Magazine (the full interview can be read here).

And it indeed is, but moreover it is a very intimate atmosphere since the Elgar Room is not too big - making it the perfect venue for musicians to engage more personally with the audience. Daniel Hope knows exactly how to do just this and gives a nice introduction before playing every classical piece, with amusing anecdotes about the original composers and creating a few laughs.

Accompanied by the Germans Daniel Deuter (violin), Stephen Schultz (cello) and Michael Metzler (percussion), Simon Martyn-Ellis (baroque guitar) from Australia and Kristian Bezuidenhout (harpsichord) from South-Africa, playing classical music from German, French, Italian and Spanish composers, the concert is besides a travel through time also a pleasant mix of different countries and cultures.

One of the favourites of the evening is definitely ‘Tambourine’, originally composed by Jean-Marie Leclaire, and is ‘one of the most curious pieces’ Daniel Hope has come across as he says in his introduction, describing it even as ‘quite insane’ and a ‘mad march’.

Throughout the concert he explains and shows well how during the Baroque Era, approximately from 1600 to 1750, composers and performers developed new instrumental playing techniques and used more elaborate musical ornamentation and improvisation, calling even Vivaldi ‘a rock star for his time’. With a programme ranging from Händel to little-known composers as Matteis and Westhoff, the evening is not only a delight to the ear but also a great way of getting more of an insight in Baroque music by hearing some of the stories behind these impressive classical pieces.

Another highlight is Sonata ‘La Guerra’ in A Major, written by one of those less-known composers, the German Johan Paul von Westhoff who became one of Louis XIV’s favourite violinists at the court of Versailles. He wrote this piece for his majesty at the time about his victory in the war, and had to play this so often to him since it became his favourite. We can see why, the piece is a true grand performance, a real explosion, and with its fast pace and endless double-stops we start feeling for the arm of Von Westhoff when imagining he had to play this over and over for Louis XIV.

All in all, ‘A Ba-Rock Explosion’ was a very enjoyable evening with wonderful music - and with the interesting background stories told, even pleasantly educational!

Listen to our playlist for some Baroque music, including two pieces played by Daniel Hope:

Photo by Rob Alexander

Tagged: London, concerts, .

1. levina- reblogged this from bandsintownblog and added:

   bandsintownblog (21 January 2010):

2. bandsintownblog posted this